This is getting painful now. There are so many wilted plants in the garden. Surely the persicaria will come back, the pachysandra has disappeared, hopefully lying dormant until it rains again, the hebes are beginning to look distraught. We are all longing for an end to the drought. Can I find six to show that offer a glimmer of hope. Here goes.
One
The first flower on the miscanthus has showed up this week. This is a plant that is surviving without watering. Yay to it!
Two
The basil by the back door does get watered regularly and is flourishing, providing the appropriate accompaniment to the continuing crop of tomatoes.
Three
I have a number of hydrangeas in the garden and these are suffering badly. Here is dwarf variety called ‘Little White’ that I planted out in a line of three last year. They present a goldilocks situation. The one in the most shade is doing okay, the one in the middle is not so bad but the one in the sun is really not very good. This is the middle one. As new plants to the garden these are getting a weekly watering.
Four
The apples have been falling for some weeks now and I can see that we will not get the usual quantity of apple juice this year. There are less apples and they are smaller in size. The idea of picking them in this heat is not appealing. We may skip a year.
Five
The plums are as bountiful as ever and must be nearly ripe. So far they still feel hard, maybe in a week or two we will have these to pick.
Six
The verbena bonariensis seeds itself happily and has popped up amongst the grass ‘Karl Foerster’. It makes for a good combination. Both of these do well without additional water.
There, it’s done. I am holding in reserve for weeks to come the idea of sharing six suffering plants. I am sure we all have them, perhaps it is time to share! I am sharing my shower with a bucket and the water collected goes to the hydrangeas. I hope it will keep them alive. Wishing you all well in your gardening spaces, we can only do our best and hope that nature will surprise us when finally arrives. Jim at Garden Ruminations is suffering too and has garden open days to come. I’m sure the visitors will be sympathetic and appreciative of all his hard work. Jim also has some great pictures of the solar eclipse – well worth checking out.
n20gardener 
There are so many of these plums, and they look delicious. I see that you have the same issue with your apples .. Do you have the same with plums? Are they ripening early? Anyway, the basil wasn’t a success here. So, it will be for next year!
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I feel that the plums are about on schedule which is surprising given this heat. Shame about our apples.
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That is a fabulous crop of plums. It may pay to thin them out a little as the branches can break under the weight. I am sure that at this stage they will ripen in a bowl, and at this stage after a few days in doors they will be just great to make plum compote to have with your yogurt at breakfast. Also you get them before the fruit flies start to pierce them. I used to have a fab tree in my last garden and learnt all this from experience. Here due to the squirrels finishing off all fruit at a much earlier stage, I will sadly have the last of the fruit trees to remove this autumn.
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Ripening them in a bowl is a good suggestion. I thought when I looked at the photo that I should have thinned them!
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I took down my fig tree because the squirrels had the best of the crop and I was paying £250 a year to have it pruned. It was a big tree and I can buy plenty of figs for that amount of money !
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My miscanthus is also flowering now as is the Muhlenbergia. It is sad to see the hydrangeas dry out.
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I’ve definitely got dead looking stems. I hope they do survive.
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I’m clinging to the hope that some of the brown and crispy looking perennials in my garden are just in premature dormancy mode. I’m thinking of turning my whole garden over to verbena bonariensis because it is absolutely flourishing, although that might make it look a little municipal
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That made me laugh! Of all the plants I passed on to my daughter the vb has performed the best.
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Haha.. yes, Verbena bonariensis is flourishing here too. Mine prefers to grow in the pebble pathways, even those with a weed membrane! That and grasses are doing OK without any water, but I am luckier than a lot of you as the temperatures here haven’t been as harsh as those in the rest of the country. Though too hot for me!
I noticed the big hydrangeas on the road into Hayle are brown and crispy. I’m guessing they haven’t been watered at all. They are even under the canopy of big trees, but maybe that’s also a problem, sucking any moisture from the ground. The two under my Hazel are not doing too badly. I give them a couple of cans of water each week.
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It’s all we can do. We have a lovely cool breeze tonight and rain forecast for next Sunday. I’ll believe when I see it!
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I think we’ll all be taking stock of what’s survived, come the autumn, the plants you’ve shared today all look like survivors.
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A lot of our water from our bucketing is used on the Hydrangeas. Those plums look well. Pity about the apples. Fred was having similar apple issues in this heat.
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Both of those grasses do not need much water. They are popular here because we get no rain between spring and autumn.
What kind of plum is that?
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I can definitely confirm the grasses are doing okay without water. As to the plum. I inherited it and don’t know the variety.
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Your plums made my stomach growl! Those type are so nice in a tart, and now I want the tart but it is hard to find those plums here. In Seattle they were everywhere.
Are you not allowed to water, or just not with a hose? I had a nasty stretch when the garden was getting hosed frequently as I ahd run out of rain water and the rain was going to the north or south of us. I even watered the grass a bit, not for the grass, but because I worry about the insects. I hope you get some nice soaking rain soon!
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That’s a shame. I brought some plums inside and they’ve just ripened. So I’ve probably got another week to go for those on the tree. Pity I can’t share them with you.
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